Right off the bat I'd like to state for the record that I am not now, nor have I ever been, a 'Trekkie' or a 'Trekker' or anything even remotely like someone who might be considered a fan of Star Trek. This despite my overwhelming geek cred, the record of which I would argue with anyone. You'd lose, so don't try to argue with me. Point being, Star Trek has not been a big part of my life, I've never dressed up as a character, or been to one of the conventions. However, I do own the entire original series on DVD and the Wrath of Khan, the only previous film in the series that I consider watchable. I can quote dialogue from the series and I have always liked the IDEA of Star Trek. I hated the Next Generation and virtually every episode of every series since then that carried the name, even though a few episodes here and there showed some promise. This is where I stand on Star Trek. And yes, I really, really enjoyed the new movie. Can't wait to see what they do with it next.

I am a huge science fiction fan and I've always wanted Star Trek to succeed. Mostly because I liked the IDEA of Star Trek. There is that phrase again, I even made it bold so you'd notice it. The "idea" of Star Trek... what is that exactly? It is something that even the original series, while it came as close as possible, never really captured in its totality. That is one of the reasons why the show failed when it originally aired and only became successful later on, on reruns and over time. The idea persisted and grew. The idea became bigger than the material it was spawned from. The idea of Star Trek became its draw, based on more than was actually ever there. This isn't a unique phenomenon, it happens all the time with cult movies, genre films and shows, musical artists, and others. The idea of the concept, the material, the experience, becomes much more than is really actually there. The idea becomes the reality.

Star Trek's idea, while different for everyone, is really based on several factors. First of all the entire concept is a positive one, the universe of ST is based on a hopeful outlook of the future. This is great and different from much of science fiction in films and television. It isn't unique in the genre, but we don't often get that and it makes you feel good, optimistic and uplifted. Emotions which are good and empowering. That's one thing. The next thing that is unique to Star Trek is the chemistry of the players involved. (Perhaps Firefly came the closest to capturing this, but it wasn't given enough time to develop.) Whatever led to the original casting of Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty and the other main cast members was... well, perfect. The chemistry that group of actors, dominated by males, managed to create is unique to ST. And when I say "unique" please note that I mean within the genre of television shows that were cancelled, became popular in reruns and turned into a multi-billion dollar franchise of films and spin-off television series. It isn't a very crowded genre.

But it is an extremely powerful force. So powerful that a few words can evoke tremendous and powerful emotions. So powerful that they have exceeded iconic stature within our popular cultural psyche and become entrenched within the shared gestalt. Ok, maybe that is a bit overplayed, but you get the general idea. Star Trek was never really all that great, moments of greatness surrounded by meh, blah, and lots of talking, bad effects, bad dialogue, kids flying starships and holo-deck tomfoolery. That's because the idea of Star Trek isn't the ideals of Star Trek. They have to live together, the chemistry was missing. It was like trying to recreate a laboratory mistake that resulted in the creation of lead turning into gold, you kept getting close, but you could just never really get it to work again.

I bring all of this up because the IDEA of Star Trek is very similar in my mind to the IDEA of Eve. Certainly not in any of the uptopian positive human-nature wins in the end ideals, but in the concept of the IDEA being bigger than the reality. It is a concept that is hard to convey, hence the prolonged prologue above about Star Trek. I figure most of my readers have at least a passing knowledge of that series. I wanted you to think about the idea more than the reality.

I find it interesting that one of our recruitment questions in Lucifer's Hammer is often, "Is Eve a good game or not?" The expected answer is of course not, no way. As many of you already know from experience Eve is a terrible game, it is absolutely horrible as a game, which is a good thing since it isn't a game. Many new players enter the universe of Eve with 'game' expectations and rapidly find this out for themselves. It is one of the biggest reasons why CCP continues to add more and more 'gaming' expansions to the universe. Why missions, excursions, anomalies and other npc driven content continues to flourish. The point is to make Eve more friendly to those whose primary driver is gaming related.

For the rest of us, we know better. And still we stay. Why? Because the idea of Eve, the larger picture stuff we've built up in our heads (or perhaps more importantly in our hearts), is more powerful than the reality. And I can prove it.

Have you ever wondered why someone who has been playing Eve for years can suddenly quit? Suddenly find something so horrendously wrong with Eve that they rage and disappear? We've gone through cycles where this happens more often than others, such as early last Summer, but it happens all the time. I'm sure you know a player that it has happened to. The reason is because of the IDEA, the big one, is an emotional connection. It isn't based on anything practical, hell Eve is a beast that will destroy practicality. (How many hours do you play?) No the IDEA of Eve is based primarily on emotions and emotional connections are based solely on internally manifested expectations, each person has his or her own personal vision or ideal state in which Eve exists for themselves. We each expect different things from our investment based on our own internally generated idea of what makes Eve important to us. Now, when something happens that brings the reality of the situation in front of that idea, and not behind it where it belongs, we are left with shattered ideas about Eve.

At that moment we all have two choices. We quit and say goodbye to the Eve universe, or we re-adjust our idea of Eve and plow forward. Re-adjusting our ideas about Eve is an on-going daily event even if you aren't aware of it.

But the persistent thing about Eve is the IDEA of Eve. The concept that it will continue, that it will improve, that the next time you undock will be the experience you dream for, that the next jump, the next order, the next encounter, whatever lies over the horizon for you personally - will match or perhaps even exceed those ideas. It rarely happens of course. But because we come close, because the expansions keep coming, we continue to dream the dream.

And so, over time, the IDEA of Eve exceeds the reality of Eve in any way that can ever possibly be reconciled together. Those two things will never meet. In fact, when they do, it is often a negative reason and not something we should ever be hoping for. As long as the idea of Eve exceeds our personal reality, we can comfortably continue. We can strive emotionally for a connection that will probably never happen. The worst thing possible, is finally making the connection. If and when that ever happens then Eve will simply become another game.

Typically I try to stay out of this stuff as much as possible, especially when it is still early. So many people are talking about it and things need to settle. I do have an opinion. Actually I have two. As usual they are the Player Me, who is writing this post right now - and the Rixx Me who is sitting in a Station somewhere in New Eden waiting to undock and kill things. Sometimes people forget that there are two people here and they both have very strong opinions about things. So here we go.

Player Me (RL)

I think this change is minor but at the same time fundamentally powerful if it continues to develop. I think it is about time that Null Space started being treated in a nuanced fashion instead of as one huge bloc of space. Setting this in motion based on true-sec standings is an excellent way to do it and uses already established measurements. Yeah.

On its own it will shake things up a tiny little bit, but in no way as much as some are crying about. People will adapt and change a few things here and there. However, if this is only the beginning (which CCP hints at it being) then things could get more interesting. What if Sov costs were based on True-Sec Standings? What if other infra-structure materials would be? Such as Jump Bridge Networks?

Interesting. And we'll all just have to wait and see what happens.

Rixx Me (Eve)

Rixx Me hates coalitions and the blobs they generate. So yes he is very happy about this news. Anything that makes the carebears of the north unhappy makes Rixx very happy. This didn't go far enough in his opinion and he hopes that those so-called Best Friends start ripping each other apart for the best systems. How many of you are there? Are you all gonna plex in one or two systems?!? I can see it now, 4,000 people trying to plex in the same system? Muhahahha.

[ Before I start the post I'd just like to send a very special big Eveoganda hug to the folks at CCP for thinking up this. It's obvious they agree with me that Coalitions are bad for Eve (Which, duh!) and they are prepared to do something about it. I hate to gloat, so I won't. ]

Meanwhile back in the Batcave. I really should stop playing Eve on Monday. Nothing good comes from it. In fact Monday's suck.

First of all I found myself stuck way up in the middle of nowhere from our Sunday fleet, in a Drake no less. And while I was certain I'd get trapped somewhere, I actually made it back to our low-sec home without any problems. Off to a good start which only meant that the worst was yet to come.

So we put together a nasty little gang to go have some fun with. Couple of Guardians, couple of Megathrons and various support ships to make things really nasty. We flew everywhere and couldn't get into a fight. We did manage to kill this, explode that (with a nice Pilgrim in it!), and keep RJ off the kill for this. Seeing as how no one would fight us, we decided to re-ship into shield BCs and give it another go.

So we head out again. This time the tide starts to turn. Sitting on the gate leading into Old Man Star a whole lotta ships start landing with us, a WHOLE lot of ships. There are like 4 of us and 40 of them, if not more. And they have Ares(es), not sure what the plural of that is. They have a few. Which means someone, most likely the last person to jump into OMS, is gonna get creamed. Guess who? Oh and more fun, the Ares(es) grab my pod and whoosh off I go to our Null Space home. Minus implants and whatnots. And special thanks to Angor for saying on comms, "No one gets podded in Low-Sec." Great support there mate. Much appreciated. Yes, while it is rare, it does happen. And I might mention, it has happened to you as well. So pfft.

So I upgrade my clone and take a look around my hanger. It's seven jumps back to our low sec base and I need a ship to fly back. Well, this is what I'm thinking anyway. I should've just grabbed a shuttle. But lo and behold for some odd reason I have a fully fit Thrasher sitting there. I have no idea why I have that, but it certainly doesn't belong in zero. I'll just fly that back, maybe sell it to make up for some of these losses. And then I jump into a Lachesis, a Crusader, and a Curse. Honestly there wasn't much I could do except align to the out gate and get my pod out.

Once back I fitted up another Drake and decided to wait on my Corp mates who were still making their way back from the earlier roam. I decided to undock and sit on the station, you never know what might happen out there! As we all know, Rixx hates to sit in the station! (dummy! lol) And what do you know, a Enyo is buzzing around outside. I yellow-box him but get nothing back. I scan the system, but he appears to be alone. It doesn't look like he wants to play so I drop the lock and what do you know? He starts shooting me! Huh.

On such things the world turns my friend. I lock the Enyo and start blowing him into Kingdom Come. As he starts to die behind me a Hyperion undocks from the station. Now these two things are seemingly unrelated, the Enyo and the Hyp are not in the same Corp/Alliance or anything. But I am blinky now, plus I have aggro on the Enyo. So the Hyp locks me and starts blasting away. I'm not overly concerned at this point, despite my Corp mates yelling at me on Comms. The Enyo explodes quickly and my shield is tanking the Hyp rather nicely given the short range. All I have to do is wait for aggro to drop and re-dock.

This is just horrible bad Monday luck. I have two choices at this point. 1) Wait for aggro to drop and dock, or 2) Try to run away from the Hyp, who has me pointed. In hindsight I should've tried for #2, although getting off station has its own share of risks, I was sure other people would be arriving soon. It is a busy system after all. And the Enyo popped pretty fast, I really should be able to dock soon. In the game of timers, I lost.

Dern it. According to BattleClinic I ended the day -9.2 points (9.47 kills minus 18.67 losses) compared to Sunday's +34.45 (45.61 kills minus 11.16 losses), so not the greatest day in the world, but despite three losses, not the worst either. For a Monday it seems relatively normal.

His insanely vivid dream about the Amarrian orgy kept being interrupted by an annoying beeping noise. He rolled over on his side and tried in vain to recapture it, but it fluttered away from his mind. The beeping however, kept returning. Grudgingly he reached for his CommLink, it was Hans. He rubbed his eyes and answered. Hans had some interesting ships chasing him down in Syndicate and needed some help. It was early, but he stretched and ran for the shower.

It was ten jumps through enemy territory so he decided to take the Rapier. A couple of fail gate camps tried to stop him, but they were no match for his skills with the invisible ship. Shortly he arrived and found a system full of Immoral Degenerates! (That was the Alliance name.) Hans was in his Cane and had managed to stir up a hornet's nest, couple of Tempests, some Drakes, Harbis, and assorted other ships. About 8-9 in all. Rixx organized the fleet and the call went out to the Alliance for some help. It was still early.

After that it was all about patience and position. Rixx was certain they probably didn't know about the Rapier. Although they could see he was in local of course. So the cat and mouse games began. Several times they thought they had a chance, but the locals weren't making it easy. Until Hans noticed a lone BlackBird slowly drifting away from the main group. He mentioned it to Rixx and he started guiding his cloaky ship towards the enemy ship and hoped the situation would continue to develop properly. The key here was to get far enough away from the Tempests and other long range ships, so even though he was in range he waited until his orbit brought him around the other side. The moment came and no matter the obvious dangers, he de-cloaked and pounced on the BlackBird. The others yellow-boxed him but otherwise provided no assistance to their friend. Most likely they were probably worried about gaining aggro and losing the ability to dock back up again.

By this time other RK pilots had begun to arrive. Including fellow blogger Logan in his Curse. They managed to isolate a Drake on the station and bring him down into low structure, but the Degenerates re-shipped into BS Armas and whatnots. So the fleet decided it was time to head back. They had some close calls on the way back but nothing came of them.

Rixx decided to head into Low-Sec to try out his new Rifter. Meanwhile he saw that Feyr was available and Convo'd him to see if he'd be interested in joining. Feyr had just lost his Rifter to a Cormorant(!) and was itching for some revenge, so he said yes. Cyber also mentioned that he'd also be available, so they decided on a three man Rifter roam. Rixx brought his Rifter into the low-sec base to wait for his Corp mates and noticed a enemy Zealot outside the station. The Zealot got a few shots off, but Rixx managed to dock safely. At that moment Cyber entered system and wanted to know where on the station the Zealot was, so Rixx undocked again to take a look. This time the Zealot was right on the undock with a Drake. They almost had him again before he docked. Rixx waited and debated. The chance to kill a enemy Zealot was something you just didn't pass up, but the key would be getting proper position. They needed to know where he was before they could get the right position. So Rixx undocked once again and this time all Hell broke lose. He could sense something was wrong from the outset, his Rifter didn't respond. He screamed at the MindLink but nothing happened. The station timers kept resetting to default and, despite not being pointed, his warp commands were being ignored. He watched as his Rifter exploded around him and aligned towards safety, at least he'd get his pod away. But the woes continued and his pod also refused to comply with his commands.

Rixx was pissed and rammed his head into the walls of his new pod. Goddammit. It's one thing to be bested by your foe in open combat and another to be bested by the whims of fate. Easily avoided whims of fate no less. He jumped into his Daredevil and raced back towards low-sec. They went tearing up the pipe and managed to kill a Thrasher, and a Crusader before they noticed a Cormorant on scan. Lo and behold it was the same ship that had gotten Feyr's Rifter earlier! They scanned and warped around a bit before Cyber was able to grab on, the wily Cormmie was keeping his Rifter at bay. But this time they had help and Rixx's Daredevil wouldn't be so easy to keep at range. He swooped in and immediately got up close and personal. Ripping thru the Cormmie went down hard and fast. As rare as it is in Eve, revenge was finally had. Sadly Cyber's tackle ended up being a hero tackle.

But only for the moment. As Rixx started to warp away another Rifter landed on the field. Rixx and Feyr spun their ships around and returned for the kill. But this time they had unknowingly fallen into a Tarp! This Rifter had a cloaky buddy that they didn't know about. First Feyr lost his Rifter and then Rixx, who was unable to escape and decided to fight it out - if he could only kill the Rifter he could leave - was taken by the cloaky Pilgrim that drained his cap and rendered his armor rep useless.

They returned to a call from Itsme, some friends were putting a fleet together and would we be interested in joining? Well duh.

I won't go into the details of that engagement here, suffice to say Rixx managed to get in on two Raven, a Chimera, a Loki, two Rokhs, a Hyperion, and a Megathron kill before losing the loaner Scorpion he was flying.

Although the Rifter loss still angered him as he settled into his cabin that night, he also felt good about his day. Twelve kills against three losses, even though one should never have happened, wasn't too shabby. He settled back in his chair, thru a dart into the picture of Aralis on the wall and headed down to the Bar, hopefully some of the guys were around causing trouble.

[ If this sounds like fun it is and you need to be a part of it - join LUCRH HAMMER TIME and talk to us about joining the greatest group of no-holds barred idiots in the game. No bullshit, just good fights.]

1) It takes two ships to form a TD.(Neither pilot can be under an active War Dec at the time of TD formation.)

2) Only TD qualified ships can form a TD.(Thunderdome qualified ships are combat ships from frigate to battleship sized classes.)

3) Both pilots must agree on the TD options before a TD can be formed.(Options include podding rules, etc.)

4) Once agreed upon, a Thunderdome countdown begins that will last for two minutes.

5) At the end of two minutes anyone in system can warp to the Thunderdome beacon, but only the two TD pilots can enter the TD.

6) A TD (essentially a 200k diameter POS shield anchored around a TD beacon) will last in space for 5m.

7) Once the two TD duelers enter the TD the countdown begins.

8) Two may enter. But only one ship can leave.

9) At the end of the 5m cycle anyone remaining within the TD will be destroyed along with the TD.

10) Inside the TD all normal space combat rules apply.(Cyno fields do not function inside the TD. In effect the combatants have removed themselves from outside influence during the duel.)

• When Incarna is released TD formations will be announced in surrounding system stations, players will have 2 minutes to place wagers on the duelists and bet on the outcome of fights.

• Regular 1v1 combat will continue, TD is only an option when forming a fleet and operates the same way forming a fleet does currently except that it can only contain two pilots and must be mutually agreed upon.

• Those that travel to the TD beacon can watch the match, but normal rules still apply outside the TD.

• It should also be possible to include pilot vs pilot agreed upon content up for "stakes" such as contracts. To the victor go the spoils!

• TD beacons are announced on the overview like Cyno fields are currently and they form in the same system as the two pilots, both pilots must be in the same system for the TD to form, in deadspace.

• TD combat could form the foundation for organized tournaments and/or dispute resolutions.

"Listen all! This is the truth of it. Fighting leads to killing, and killing gets to warring. And that was damn near the death of us all. Look at us now! Busted up, and everyone talking about hard rain! But we've learned, by the dust of them all... Bartertown learned. Now, when men get to fighting, it happens here! And it finishes here! Two men enter; one man leaves."

[ Gooder Eve is a series of on-going articles that examine ways in which Eve can be made Gooder. Some are serious, some are not, but all are intended to create debate, dialogue, and discussion. So enjoy! ]

[EDIT: This post has been updated, please note new content below.]

Last week we had two 1v1 incidents involving pilots of Lucifer's Hammer. Any incidents involving 1v1 fights are unusual since our policy, and my personal mandate, is extremely clear. We honor 1v1s no matter what. I always have and always will.

The incidents, one of which I wrote about previously and the other which I won't be writing about (it was an internal matter and has been resolved), were different from each other - but they both shared a common problem that made me think of a possible solution. What is that problem you ask? Simply put, what exactly constitutes an official 1v1?

In many cases you have chat logs that can clearly show intention and the resulting agreement to meet and spar. In others however, the answers are not as clearly defined. Which can lead to some serious consequences. This has happened to me personally in the past when accepting a 1v1 only to learn that the other pilot isn't as morally upstanding as I am. This happened over two years ago, but for awhile there it made me think twice about accepting any challenge.

As you all know I am a huge supporter of good fights. And while they are becoming more and more difficult to find in the universe, I think we should be doing everything we can to encourage them. One way might just be the establishment of a new Fleet Type - The Fight Club.

Here's how it might work. Two pilots in the same system (and in different Corp/Alliances) agree to fight each other, they click on each other's name in local chat and one of the menu options is Fight Club. They both select that option and each gets a confirmation YES or REJECT. Once YES is selected they are in fleet together. Only two pilots can be in a Fight Club fleet, so no one else can enter the fleet. The Fight Club fleet, once accepted, has a FIVE minute timer. During that five minutes no one else can lock the Fight Club ships, and they wouldn't be able to lock anyone out of Fleet either! So no worries about being ganked by that bastards buddies, or being hotdropped by several suddenly appearing Carriers.

Once one of the Fight Club ships is destroyed the timer automatically reverts to 30 seconds, time enough to warp off or get your pod to safety. This would allow for other pilots to watch the combat if they'd like and the combatants wouldn't have to worry about being ganked after the fight.

Indeed, the Fight Club fleet could also come with options. Much like Loot options in a regular fleet. For example, is pod killing allowed or not? Is it to the "death" or can someone surrender? I'm not sure about that last one, but I'm just throwing out ideas here.

The point is that such a Fleet options seems straight forward and easy enough to implement, the structure is already in place. Perhaps such fights would be like the old "twelve paces and turn" gentleman's duels of old and wouldn't count against Sec Status since they'd be officially sanctioned by Concord?

What do you think? I'm hard pressed to come up with a single negative here. I'm sure my readers can help me with that.

GOODER EVE: ThunderDome!

The feedback from the above post got me brain working. Obviously the concern is exploits and we all know that'll happen. Can't trust any of you people.

So why not this then?

When a Fight Club brawl is finally accepted by both pilots a THUNDERDOME is activated in system. The TD is a POS Shield 200k in diameter that only the two Fight Club ships can enter. Once they both warp to the beacon, only one can exit. Depending on the agreed upon options, such as pods and whatnot.

The TD isn't moveable, it eliminates the need for locking or not locking, and generates no benefit to anyone that wants to exploit it, since the TD only lasts for a short duration.

Only combat ships can be in Fight Club fleets, and anyone with GCC or aggro also cannot be in fleet.

AMARR (EVEOGANDA NEWS) - Elizabeth "Tay-Lor" Kador, the legendary Kador Family Princess famed throughout the Empire for her beauty, her Gate-hopping lifestyle, her charity towards the Minmatar and her many loves, has suddenly died, her publicist told Eveoganda news. She was only 79.

Tay-Lor died peacefully in Amarr this morning at the Royal Family Hospital, with her family and close friends nearby. She was hospitalized six weeks ago after a mysterious ailment caused her to miss the Annual Caldari Casino Tournament for the first time in several decades. The details of the ailment have never been revealed to the general public, but rumors and speculation have fueled local talk for weeks. The Empire's border patrols along Caldari held systems have been noticeably more stringent.

Rixx Javix, who once is reported to have dated the Princess briefly, was able to obtain the following statement from a Brutor who has close ties to the family. "The buzz around the Emperor's home is murder most foul. Who amongst the Amarrian Royal family dies at 79? True or not, the Caldari should look to their own children." The source requested anonymity for obvious reasons.

Although young by Amarrian standards the Princess had already achieved much in her all too short life. Two time winner of the prestigious Golden Yacht Award for winning the well-known and universally broadcasted annual race, as well as establishing several well known networks in support of Minmatar nationalism (even at the risk of disfavor from her own family), Tay-Lor was best known for her lifestyle, sexy, glamorous, tempestuous, fragile, always trailing courtiers, media and fans.

It was her flagrant and very public courtships that drew the most attention. Especially her often bold statements of arriving at Royal events with a well-known Capsuleer on her arm, that really caught the attention of the public. It was even rumored that she had once dated a Jovian, but nothing was ever proven. Either way, it is sure that the universe has missed out on hundreds of years of fashion, glamour and beauty by her passing.

New Eden has certainly lost one of its stars this morning.

[ An Eve style tribute to the beautiful Elizabeth Taylor, who left us this morning. All due respect to a classic beauty.]

I'll admit it. When I discovered my new found "criminal" powers yesterday I had some fun with it. Yes, yes, I jumped into hi-sec and watched the Cops spawn right in front of me, burned back to the Gate and jumped back into low-sec... about 12x!!

Ok, maybe not exactly 12, but pretty close. The whole time I'm laughing... laughing while playing Eve. Not the most common reaction to this odd, messed up game of ours. And yes, before you ask the obvious, I am having a blast.

It isn't about being a criminal, or a pirate, or a null space soldier... it's about being a fighter. A warrior if you will. This is the place that I have gotten to in my growth as a pilot in Eve. I realized this last night, flying along in a gang made up mostly of Tuskers - I'm having fun. And I know that everyone's definition of fun is different and I respect that. Somehow lots of people seem to enjoy carebearing and managing Sov mechanics for their overlord masters, like I said, I respect that. In fact I encourage it. Otherwise I wouldn't get a chance at kills like this one.

I made it clear to my Corporation that we are not pirates, that we are not null space soldiers, carebears, mission-runners, industrialists, miners... we are fighters. The attitude that I would like Lucifer's Hammer to have is simple - if there is a fight to be had, we're in it. Plain and simple. I have worked hard to put this Corporation into a position where that is not only possible, but encouraged. Rote Kapelle gives us that opportunity, to lead the life of dual-citizenship. To have the power of a great Alliance behind us and access to both worlds of combat within Eve. They say that Corporations take on the persona of the man in charge and I agree. I don't consider myself a pirate or a null space soldier, I'm a fighter. I enjoy player vs player combat in all its forms. That's what I like most about Eve.

I enjoy other parts of Eve as well, this isn't some juvenile 'I only play my way' philosophy, so don't even start with that. I've been playing for over two years now and this is simply the next stage in that career. Where it goes and what happens next is a daily adventure told in explosions and fire. Like this and this.

So Rixx won't be coming to hi-sec much anymore. Luckily I've been training Ana for the last year and a half for just this very moment, so she can take the brunt of the work that needs done for me in Empire. So goodbye hi-sec bits, I never really spent much time there anyway. Except to fly thru you to more interesting bits.

Less secure is my route now.

[ PS: Oh and if any of this seems like your alley, please join LUCRH HAMMER TIME channel and talk to us about killing things with Lucifer's Hammer! It's a big hammer.]

I was once below -5, but that was almost two years ago. Anytime in the past that my sec status dropped that low I've immediately ratted it back up again. I was almost once at +5, I think I made it to +4.75 and I haven't been back that close since. That was almost two years ago as well.

This time I won't be ratting it back up again. It will continue to fall I suppose. Eventually Rixx won't be able to hang out with the better elements of the universe and be restricted to the darker corners. I'll have to rely on my alt to do the things that need done in the finer corners.

Another chapter. Wonder how this one ends?

(Oops edits are mine. Sometimes it doesn't pay to post quickly when one is busy.)

While Rixx gets to fly around the universe in shiny ships, your poor friendly neighborhood blogger has to sit in his office making iskies to buy those shiny ships! My Mom warned me the universe wasn't fair, but I had no idea! I kid of course, I enjoy the work I get to do for my Eve clients and hopefully they also get something valuable in return.

To all of you that are patiently waiting for me to get around to your project, just know this. I take the same level of care, attention to detail and professionalism on each and every project. Sometimes that means things can take a little longer than anticipated. Some projects go quickly and some take a little more time. The same will be true on your project as well and other people will be waiting for their turn.

I have to say though, that everyone I deal with is extremely patient and understanding. That is greatly appreciated.

So far I have three new ads prepared for the next issue of EON Magazine. This one is for Legion of the Damned, a growing Alliance that hangs out in my neck of the woods in Syndicate. A funny true story about that. Just days after I sent them the first layout, we happened on this Tengu. When I didn't hear back from them for a few days I started to get worried they might not want to finish the project. I needn't have worried, this is Eve after all and these things happen.

This is the first time in my career that I've actually had the chance to read about a "fight" from another pilots perspective, so thanks for that m8.

I'm not going to defend what happened, I've already admitted in the comments of the previous post that I totally whored your death. As with most things however, it isn't always as simple as that. We were three Rifters out that night for a quick tour up the pipe and back. When we arrived at Old Man Star the system was packed as usual and traffic continued to come and go. Angor was our scout and did his usual perfect job of scanning down something for us to engage.

I don't remember the details now, but we tried several times to engage multiple ships. And then along came another Rifter on scan. Angor tried, apparently as you did, to land near enough to engage. Eventually he decided to simply announce his location. While this wasn't an official 1v1, which I have always honored, it was always intended to be Angor's fight. Two things happened then, local spiked and Angor asked us to jump in and warp to him. From the way the fight sounded it looked as if it would be over by the time we got there and we would simply be arriving to ensure that others didn't get a chance to take advantage of our Corp m8. I arrived first and lo and behold you were still barely alive. So I finished you off.

After several hours of playtime that was the only kill to show for it. No apologies, if it happened that way again I'd do the same thing. I've certainly been on the other end of that equation enough times myself.

But you can save your tears, that's not why I fight. Angor is the one who would probably enjoy them.

I haven't spent a lot of time in low security space in my career. Primarily I've been a Null space soldier fighting over territories held by the Alliance I happened to be a member of. Like so many things about Eve these days, this is also starting to change for me. If you haven't picked up on it yet, Rixx is undergoing some major shifts in his on-line career, attitude and perspective lately. This is a fascinating and exciting time for both of us, watching this new world unfold before us. After everything we've been thru together, this might be the most exciting time yet.

Why? Simply stated the future is full of potential. Lucifer's Hammer is thriving and finding its footing, our membership in RK is going very well and we are having fun. "Fun" is a concept that is often hard to come by in Eve. Which is often strange for people to understand, especially those new to the "game". Fun for me is fighting, player vs player combat. Other people have their own definitions of what is fun for them, hundreds of potential definitions. Which is fine for them. My definition is pretty straightforward, I like to fight.

There are fights to be had in low sec. From the way people whine about how broken it is, you'd think this wouldn't be the case. But it isn't. These fights are different than Null fights, for both obvious and not-so obvious reasons. As are the people fighting them. In the past I've used the "Professional" and "Amateur" labels to describe Null and Low warriors respectively. This was simplistic on my part and grossly wrong. While Null space demands a certain level of professionalism from its pilots, it in no way holds a unique or special place in that category. There are after all many professional warriors to be found in the systems of Low security.

Many of them are in my Corporation. And perhaps this is what is most to account for the changes in my own attitude towards low sec. In the past when I ventured into pirate territory I did so either alone or in the company of fellow Null pilots. My only real experience with a low sec corporation only lasted a single day, since I was so aghast by what I found there. But now that more and more pilots with low sec leanings are becoming a part of my everyday Eve life, I'm beginning to see things in a new light.

Last night I went out with a bunch of them on a 4 hour low sec roam. I promised I wouldn't disclose any details, but suffice to say (despite not getting the fight we wanted) I had a blast. The fleet composition was unique and extremely interesting to say the least. And while I may have constructed it differently, that doesn't mean I didn't see the point of it. And we almost had a good chance to try out the concept, but sadly those arrayed against us didn't want to play. While I did manage to get on a few kills myself, the ship I was flying didn't really allow for much. I won't say any more other than this, thanks to those that hosted us Lucifer's Hammer pilots. I hope we can do it again soon.

The point being, while I will probably always prefer zero space, I am beginning to see low sec in a new light. The days ahead continue to be interesting, I can't wait to see what happens next.

I am not a Carebear! I just wanted to make sure I made that clear. Although sometimes you wouldn't know it if you happened to be watching me. Yesterday I took some grief from my Corp m8s because of it. They are always more than willing to point these things out.

Yesterday I did something I've never done before in Eve. Which is rare enough these days. And while I wish it was solo'ing a Machariel, it wasn't. Yesterday I dual-boxed Rixx and Anastasia, so I could jump the Archon back and forth from low-sec to our new home in zero. Three trips and I'm not even done yet! I have at least one more trip and possibly more if some of the Corp needs it.

So if that qualifies as "carebear" then I suppose it is. But at least it is doing it in style! Putting up a cyno for yourself over and over again is an interesting experience, especially when you have two clients running at the same time. I'm not sure that I would trust that system enough to do much more with it, but it worked for what I needed. We have pilots in the Corp that dual-box multiple clients at the same time and I'm not sure how they do it.

I have a hard enough time keeping up with everyone's alts.

To wash the stench of carebearing off my hands I joined a Rifter roam into low-sec hoping to get some good fights. Mostly everyone ran away, but we did manage to pin down this Rifter. After I left Angor managed some nice solo kills.

I'm really, really looking forward to finally getting settled in somewhere. Moving around as much as I have the last two years is not good for the soul, the killboard or morale in general. It will be good to have access to all my stuffs, or at least most of it, on a regular basis and be able to base from somewhere. It will also be good to finally have our entire Corp in the same place soon. Recruiting and then moving all the way across the Universe meant many of our members are scattered, now we'll be able to get them all together finally.

Due to unusually high activity in this other MMORG I play called "Real Life" (Which isn't nearly as exciting as Eve believe me) I've been "out-of-town" for the past three days. Zero Eve, no blog, no email checking, just totally gone.

But I'm back now and trying to get caught up again. Amazing how much happens and how much stays the same when you step away from the game for a moment.

It all pales in comparison to events in Japan of course. Have we ever been witness to a more well documented series of natural disasters than those that have besieged the islands over the past few days? There were even reports of a potential volcanic eruption in one of the southern islands. I can't remember anything like it before. Usually these types of events occur in remote areas of the world and we sometimes see glimpses of the events themselves, but in this case we've been witness to almost every aspect of the disaster as it happens.

As this continues to unfold my thoughts continue to be with the people of Japan.

I'll be back later with something else more Eve related. Need to get my bearings back.

The Rixx Javix Store

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Eve + Propaganda = Eveoganda. Your one-stop Eve Magazine and gateway to the Eve Community, for over seven years Eveoganda has been raising Hell, taking names and openly mocking things that need to be mocked. All in the name of fun, adventure and internet spaceships.

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